Caleb Martin wore a red Nike shirt on one of his first days on Nevada’s campus.

The red made sense. Martin was a transfer from the North Carolina State Wolfpack, whose colors are red, black and white. But, he quickly learned that now as a member of the Nevada Wolf Pack, wearing red was not OK.

“People were looking at me like I was crazy, like they wanted to kill me or something,” Martin said of his decision to wear red, the color or rival UNLV, on campus. “A lot of people take pride in the rivalry. Sitting out last year was crazy and when I was watching it I couldn’t wait to be a part of it. It’s going to be awesome.”

Like the majority of Nevada’s rotation players this year, Martin will make his debut in the Nevada-UNLV rivalry game Wednesday when the No. 23-ranked Wolf Pack hosts the Rebels at 8 p.m. at Lawlor Events Center. But, for players like Martin, his brother Cody, Kendall Stephens and Hallice Cooke, this won’t be their first glimpse at the in-state rivalry. Each sat on the bench last season when Nevada whipped UNLV at home.

That game featured new “Battle Born” jerseys, famed ring announcer Michael Buffer doing the pre-game introductions and the Wolf Pack players walking through the student section to enter the court with a Lawlor-record 11,841 fans in attendance. The Martin twins, Stephens and Cooke were glued to the bench under NCAA transfer rules, but that game gave them an understanding of the intensity of the rivalry.

“It was a lot of fun,” said Cooke, an Iowa State transfer. “It was something I couldn’t wait to be a part of it and I’m glad it’s here. We want to take advantage of the opportunity and handle business.”

Handling business is expected to be more difficult this season. UNLV was a lame dunk last season after Marvin Menzies was hired in mid-April and forced to put together a makeshift roster after Chris Beard took the job and then left for Texas Tech 19 days later. The result was Nevada smashing UNLV by 27 in Reno and 36 in Las Vegas, the two most lopsided wins by Nevada in this rivalry’s history. UNLV has a far more capable team this season.

“They’re a totally different team this year,” guard Josh Hall said. “They’ll definitely remember how it went last year.”

The biggest difference comes in the post, where UNLV boasts 7-foot-1, 250-pound center Brandon McCoy and 6-7, 225-pound forward Shakur Juiston. They combine for 32.6 points, 19.7 rebounds and 2.1 blocks per game. McCoy, a freshman and potential first-round draft pick, will test a Wolf Pack roster that tops out at 6-7. He’s averaging a double-double (18 ppg, 10 rpg) while making 60 percent of his shots.

“He gives a different look for everybody in our conference because we run into a lot of 6-8 centers in the Mountain West and now we’re dealing with a true 7-footer,” said Nevada coach Eric Musselman, who is 3-1 in his career versus UNLV. “It does present a whole different dilemma. The good thing is I’ve coached against Shaquille O’Neal and some other pretty good players and game planned against them. But, he’s a really good player and he’s going to put up numbers because he’s a special talent.”

At 6-7, Jordan Caroline has served as Nevada’s center and said he’s looking forward to the matchup despite giving up half a foot to his counterpart McCoy. He was highly complimentary of UNLV’s bigs.

“They’re a great big tandem,” Caroline said. “They might be as good as any big tandem in the country.”

Nevada will counter with length across the board and shooting. The Wolf Pack also has tried to play at a faster pace in recent games, something they think can be an asset against the larger Rebels. UNLV produces the fastest tempo among Mountain West schools, but Nevada believes speed could be its ally.

“We want to get a lot of easy transition points, get their big guys tired,” Hall said. “Both of their big guys are kind of slow in transition. We want to get as many easy points as possible and getting their bigs in pick and rolls and getting them uncomfortable and doing all of the easy stuff to get them tired. The main thing is getting easy points. Once you run in transition and get points, it leads to us playing good defense and everything runs smoothly for us.”

UNLV has talented players outside of McCoy and Juiston, who was the national junior college player of the year last season. The roster also includes point guard Jordan Johnson, a transfer from Milwaukee who averages 14.6 points and 5.9 assists per game, and all-conference returner Jovan Mooring, a guard who tallies 13.5 points per game. But, the big focuses will be limiting UNLV’s strong inside play.

“Just play big, play with heart, play with passion and compete,” Cooke said. “The best players compete on both ends of the floor. We have a lot of guys undersized, but we have a lot of guys with big hearts.”

Nevada (20-4, 9-1 MW) also has a national ranking attached to its name after moving back into the polls at the No. 23 spot. The Wolf Pack is 0-3 as a ranked team this season, but each of those losses have come away from Lawlor, where Nevada has won 16 straight.

UNLV (16-7, 5-5), meanwhile, will look to pop back over the .500-mark in conference play as it angles for a first-round bye in the conference tournament.

“We just have to come out and show that we’re the better team and prove our ranking,” Hall said.